The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone (11 page)

"It makes
him... amenable?"

"Yes." Tassin
shot a worried look at Sabre.

The woman
walked around Sabre, studying him. She squeezed his biceps, prodded
him in the stomach and pinched the skin of his flank.

"He looks
strong, but a little small and thin."

Sabre wondered
if she was sizing him up for the cooking pot. The spears did not
waver from their target, and he thought it prudent to keep quiet.
The Amazon was supremely confident; it did not seem to occur to her
that he might be dangerous, and she examined him with obvious
interest.

She traced the
scars that ran down his arms. "Is he a fighter? It looks like he's
been tortured."

"Yes."

The Amazon
shot her a hard look. "But you control him completely?"

"Yes,
absolutely."

The blonde
nodded, apparently satisfied. "Then he can come. We are Andarons,
and our village is not far away. I'm Shizana, these are my
huntresses." Shizana rattled off six names, none of which Sabre
could remember later. Turning away, she led them through the
forest, and Sabre stayed close behind Tassin, aware of a sharp
spear point mere millimetres from his back. The Andarons found a
faint path and followed it, moving at a fast jog that soon had
Tassin panting, although she kept up.

A short while
later, the cyber's scanners detected a multitude of people ahead,
which he assumed was the Andaron village. They entered a clearing
occupied by a sprawl of thatched huts with walls made from dried
mud, a patch of cultivation next to each one. Three trees had been
felled to allow enough light in for a paddock, where a few goats
grazed. A stream meandered through the village, and paths led from
hut to hut, joining together, like capillaries into an artery, to
form a road. It ran up the approximate middle of the village, and
ended in a well-worn square before a fair-sized house.

Shizana led
them towards the mansion, which was undoubtedly the Queen's
dwelling. Women looked up from digging in their vegetable gardens,
washing clothes, cooking over open fires, or cleaning skins for
drying. Sabre was impressed by the industry. Children played games
in the dirt, and the women were uniformly large, muscular and
blonde, although some of the older ones were running to fat. A few
wrinkled, white-haired crones squatted before their huts, smoked
pipes and instructed groups of youngsters in various skills.

Although there
were plenty of pubescent girls, no boys older than about twelve
were in evidence, and he wondered what had happened to them.
Strangely, the boys were black-haired and dark-eyed. Each hut had a
rack of spears at the doorway. By the time they reached the Queen's
house, a procession of children followed them, staring at Sabre.
Grisly trophies decorated the mansion, mostly animal skulls and
bright feathers, but several human skulls grinned from the posts
outside. Shizana stopped and turned to Tassin.

"He must wait
here."

Tassin nodded
and relayed the order to Sabre, then vanished inside with Shizana,
leaving him at the mercy of a gathering crowd of Andaron women.
Most shot him hostile looks, and a few queried his guards, clearly
outraged by his presence in their village. Several spat in his
direction and stalked away. Some young girls stared at him with
open curiosity, their eyes filled with wonder. From their
fascination, he gathered that they had never seen a full grown man
before. They giggled, whispered and pointed, pinching and poking
each other as they blushed and squirmed.

The guards
swatted the girls' backsides with their spear butts, sending them
squealing, but they ignored the boys who gathered. Other idle
warrior women joined the mob, leant on their spears and chatted to
the guards. They treated Sabre as if he was no more important than
a dog or goat, and about as intelligent. Most of the boys, after
studying him for a while, grew bored and wandered off, but a few
settled down to wait for something interesting to happen.

Tassin was
ushered through painted leather curtains into a room where the
primitive queen held court. A fire roared in a central grate, the
smoke funnelled out through the apex of the high, thatched roof.
Two bead-hung windows added to the illumination provided by the
fire and a few torches. Several older women reclined on soft pelts
spread over benches next to the walls, smoking pipes, nibbling food
or sipping drinks. Tassin halted in the middle of the room as the
women's chatter ceased, aware of the intent stares of many sets of
blue eyes.

A fat woman
sprawled on a fur-draped throne, dressed in soft white leather and
adorned with strings of beads, teeth and feathers. Her greying hair
was plaited and coiled around her head to form a crude crown, and
carved bracelets clattered on her wrists when she moved. She had a
strong, large-featured face, and might have been called handsome in
her youth, but not beautiful.

Shizana
stopped before her and bowed, indicating Tassin. "This woman claims
to be Queen Tassin, from across the Badlands."

Tassin shot
her an angry look. "I am Queen Tassin."

The matriarch
studied Tassin with hard eyes, then smiled. "You speak strangely,
so you must come from afar. You sound like a queen, but all women
are queens, so welcome to my village, Tassin. I'm Molla."

Tassin nodded,
as was polite between peers, though she hardly considered this
barbarian queen her equal. If Sabre thought her primitive, these
women were savages by comparison. Nevertheless, they seemed
friendly. A woman gave her a cup of sweet beverage and showed her
to a seat on a bench. Another offered her a selection of strange
food, which smelt appetising, and she filled the bowl she had been
given.

Molla invited
her to tell her story, and Tassin omitted nothing. More lamps were
lighted as it grew dark outside, and an apparently endless supply
of food circulated amongst the women. The sweet drink flowed,
although she found, to her relief, that it was not alcoholic. When
the story ended, the barbarian queen studied her, looking
intrigued.

"Why did this
man carry you out of the Death Zone?"

"He's my
servant."

"And he didn't
violate you while you were helpless?"

"Of course
not!" Tassin cheeks warmed with embarrassment.

The women
murmured, and Molla gestured for quiet. "He would fight to defend
you?"

"Yes." Tassin
wondered where this was leading.

"Because of
this thing on his head."

"Yes,
partly."

"Why
else?"

"He's loyal."
Tassin frowned, uncertain if that was true, since she had no idea
of Sabre's real motives. The cyber was loyal, and Sabre had made a
bargain with it, so it was close to the truth. Would he have come
after her, had it not been for that?

"Do you know
how to make this thing on his head?" Molla enquired.

"No." Tassin
suppressed a smile, understanding.

Molla looked
disappointed, her vision of cyber-controlled slaves clearly
shattered. "Who made it?"

"Other men in
a faraway place."

"Other men?
Why would they want to enslave their own?"

Tassin
shrugged. "For the same reason as you."

Molla nodded
sagely. "You may keep your pet man, but he's not allowed in any
house, nor may he eat with women. He must not attempt to speak to
us, and he must obey anything he's told. If he lays a hand on a
woman, he will die."

"I will order
him so."

The women
murmured, and Molla gazed at Tassin with a pensive air. The woman
beside her offered Tassin a pipe, which she declined as graciously
as she could. The air was thick with pungent smoke, and her eyes
watered. She sipped her drink as the pipe was passed across her to
the next woman, continuing its rounds.

When the
talking died away, Molla remarked, "Never have we heard of anyone
crossing the Death Zone before. It's an auspicious deed. Monsters
come from there and terrorise our village sometimes. They're
terrible creatures, and hard to kill.

"That you
survived in the Death Zone itself, where these creatures dwell, is
extraordinary. We sent warriors to try to cross the desert, but
only a few returned to tell of the horror that exists there. Those
who did return died shortly afterwards. You're welcome amongst us,
for you must be a great warrior."

"Sabre got me
across," Tassin admitted, pulling a face. "He's a far greater
warrior than I."

Molla shook
her head, looking puzzled. "I don't understand why he helps you,
since you give him nothing in return. Even with this thing on his
head... it must work very well. Yet you say in your land you ruled
men and women."

"That is
right."

"I would like
to hear more about this. Tomorrow, perhaps. A house has been
prepared for you. It's late, and you must be tired."

Tassin rose
and nodded to Molla as Shizana stepped forward to guide her.
Outside, Sabre stood where she had left him, and she realised that
he had been waiting there the whole time. Different guards watched
him; the shift had probably been changed many times during the
hours she had spent with the Queen. Sabre looked tired and
aggrieved.

Tassin went
over to him. "I did not think I would be so long. Are you all
right?"

His smile was
bitter. "I'll live. It would have been nice if they'd let me sit
down, maybe even offered me some food."

Tassin bit her
lip. She should have realised that these women, who clearly
disliked men, would not extend any courtesy or comfort to one.
Until now, Sabre had taken care of her, and now it was her turn to
see to his needs, since the warrior women would not allow him any
real freedom. Here was her opportunity to prove that she was not a
silly girl, and already she had failed him.

"I did not
realise." She turned to Shizana. "Can you bring food for him?"

The huntress'
lip curled. "We don't feed men; he can feed himself."

Tassin's jaw
dropped, and Sabre muttered, "How nice."

Several spear
points bristled around his neck, pricking his skin, and Shizana
scowled. "He's not permitted to speak!"

Tassin glared
at the tall woman, her hand on her dagger. "He speaks if he wishes,
that is my wish!"

"You heard the
Queen's orders."

"I'm also a
queen. While I shall respect Molla's wishes, and will pass on her
orders, you will also respect mine. Sabre may speak to me whenever
he wants to, and I will have no more spears at his throat." She
pushed away the nearest spear. "He was not speaking to you, so he
broke no laws. It's too late to hunt now, and he's hungry, so bring
him food." Tassin glowered at Shizana, and the warrior woman's eyes
lowered before the royal glare.

"If it's your
wish, Queen Tassin."

Tassin turned
to the women who surrounded Sabre. "You may go, all of you! I do
not need guards to watch him. He obeys me, and is no danger to
anyone."

The women
looked uncertain, but lowered their spears and walked away, casting
many looks back at them.

Sabre eyed
Tassin. "Obeys you?"

"I had to tell
them that, or they would kill you."

"So you told
them what? That I'm your slave?"

"No! You do
not understand these women, they seem to hate men."

He shook his
head. "I understand them perfectly. They do hate men, they're
taught to by their mothers and grandmothers. To them, a man is
worse than an animal, especially since he's a member of their own
species."

"I must tell
you the rules before you break one."

"And then
they'll try to ram spears through my gut?"

"Yes. You are
not allowed in a house, and you must not speak to any of these
women, or touch them. You may not eat with them, and it seems you
must provide your own food."

He nodded as
if it was no more than he expected. "They're a hospitable bunch,
but I don't mind hunting as long as we're here, and we're not going
to be here very long."

"Oh?" Tassin
raised her chin. "I would like a rest from travelling, and they're
good to me."

"Bully for
you. I'm the one who'll have to sleep outside and maybe get
attacked for some minor, probably imagined, infraction of the
rules. I don't enjoy being glared at and spat on."

She frowned.
"No, of course not. Perhaps you could camp in the forest until I'm
ready to journey on."

"Well, at
least one of us will be comfortable."

"It will only
be for a short while, I promise."

Sabre looked
pensive, his brow band sparkling in the gloom. "A few days, no
more. If you want to settle down here, you can count me out. These
women may have once had a genuine gripe against men, but they're
too hostile for my liking."

Shizana
returned with a haunch of slightly burnt meat, which she gave to
Tassin, who passed it on to Sabre. They followed the huntress to a
hut, where she bowed to Tassin and bestowed a final glare upon
Sabre before departing.

Sabre
inspected the meat. "I wonder if this is edible. It looks like they
threw it in the fire, maybe they pissed on it for good
measure."

Tassin
hesitated. "You think they would do that?"

"I wouldn't
put it past them."

She glanced
inside the hut. A fire burnt in a stone hearth, a pile of bedding
lay in one corner and a pottery jug stood on a low table. She held
out her hand. "I will wash and heat it for you."

He gave it to
her, and she entered the hut, where he unthinkingly followed.

"Get out!" she
whispered. "You are not allowed in here."

"Oh,
right."

Sabre
retreated and opened the pack, arranging his blankets outside the
wall. Tassin washed and heated the meat, then sat with him while he
ate it.